The Grenada gazette. (Grenada, Miss.) 1885-18??, 1887-02-05

SuoSo was sISlL 70
make one scream. That deceitful
swing shelf had given way at last. l
suppose the weight Of the jar of
peaches had been too much for it. One
end OF it had gone down, and there
they were-currants and strawberries,
and raspberries and gooseberries, and
plums and cherries, and grapes and
apples, and peaches and quinces-iam
and jelly, and sweet pickles and pre-
serves and cordials all in one smash on
the stone floor"
"Not a thing left whole?" asked
Kitty.
There might have been a trumpery
DIT OF jelly for all l know"
"Oh, dear" We girls drew long
breaths. "What did she do?n
"she sat down on the lowest step ant
1or just about minute she cried. Then
she got the washtubs and a shovel, and
Tor about an hour we worked over that
mess, and then her summers work,
mixed with broken glass stood there,
waiting to be carried up and thrown
away.
~ couldn't say much as l wished her
goodbye. l only tried to laugh, as I
said: The sick people will be the worse
for this, Mrs. Fothergill.' And the
sweet, quiet look had all come back to
her face as she answered: "The Lord
can look after his sick without any help
from me, you know
"But l knew that for a day or two
after she was going round with a big
weight on her heart. And l took a lit
tie time to think about it, and then I
went round with a weight on my mind.
And the end of it was that a week later
there was a little gathering at the par.
sons house-informal-we often used to
60 there so, for we always found it a
pleasant place. And Mrs. Fothergill
by that time had got so that she could
laugh as the ladies all sympathized
about her fruit, and told how she had
found quite a picking Of crab-apples
left on the trees, and she had been put
ting those up.
And all the time the sociability was
going in the parlors there was no less
of a sociable time in the cellar. There
were a hundred families, more or less,
in Parson F%othergill's church, and I'd
been to pretty much every one, and We
had all agreed to try the old saying:
Many Titles make a mickle.'
Those that couldn't 60 had sent.
A few Of the younger folk were
quietly going in and out of the cellar,
and when things were fixed one of them
gave me an understanding look, and I
went down. And you couldn't guess
what l found there.
"A pyramid. The middle of it was
big stone jar of sweet pickles, and on
that a smaller jar Of plum preserves,
and on that a half-gallon can and a
quart and a pint can. up to a glass Of
jelly. And round that was a row Of
smaller jars, and then a row of half
gallons, and then Of quarts and pints.
down to a row of jelly"
Aunt Hannah leaned back in her
chair with a beaming face, while We
expressed our delight and approval.
I'VE went out quietly, for it had been
that no one was to be there
when they found it out. But l was set
on that dear soul knowing about it be-
fore she slept, so l couldn't forbear CIV
ing the outside cellar door a little bang
rs l shut it down, so TIT Some one
would 60 down to see what was the
And we could see a light
cleaning through the cellar window
before we got far from the house.
''Well, there isn't any more to tell.
When I went to see her I said: OF
course, Mrs. Fothergill, they can't be
expected To be as satisfactory as those
you put up yourself But she said.
with tears in her dear eyes: Mine did
not have the flavor Of the loving-kind.
ness Of a whole congregation"
Aunt Hannah stopped talking and
Ter knitting-neclles moved faster.
"Moral?" inquired Kitty.
II think there are about a half-dozen
in it for such girls as you, but
he only one l shall point out %is-never
,ut your trust in a swing SHELF
Demorcst.